Oversight Group Gets Cheating Complaints

Georgia's teacher certification agency has received complaints for the four school districts where a state audit found cheating on standardized math tests. John Grant with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission said Wednesday that formal complaints have been filed for elementary schools in Atlanta, Fulton County, DeKalb County and Glynn County. The commission will vote in September whether to investigate educators named in three of the complaints. A commission probe is already under way for DeKalb County's Atherton Elementary, where the principal resigned and the assistant principal was reassigned after admitting to changing students' answers on fifth-grade math tests. Both have been charged with tampering with state documents, a felony. Educators found to be involved in the cheating could lose their teaching licenses.

(Associated Press)

Commission Investigates Test Cheating

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is investigating allegations that two DeKalb County school administrators changed answers on a standardized test to improve students' scores. Commission executive secretary Kelly Henson said the school district has filed formal complaints about former Atherton Elementary principal James Berry and assistant principal Doretha Alexander. The two could lose their teaching licenses if they are found guilty by the commission, which oversees educator certification. Berry and Alexander were arrested late last week by DeKalb County police and charged with tampering with public documents. A state audit released two weeks ago revealed cheating at Atherton and three other elementary schools in Georgia.

(Associated Press)

New rules for teachers due summer '09

Certified state school employees in Georgia will soon have a new set of ethics guidelines. Among the changes recommended by one union … sanctions against employees who harass their peers.

No one change prompted the Georgia Professional Standards Commission to re-write its ethics guidelines, which were last reviewed in 2005, says Gary Walker, director of the PSC’s Educator Ethics Division. Walker says the revised code simply clarifies existing rules and will have less legal jargon. For example, “Instead of talking about maintaining a professional relationship with students, we have our standard called ‘abuse of students.’ We want the focus to be on maintaining a professional relationship, how do you that and what happens if you violate that.”

Walker says the group may also investigate personal behavior if it conflicts with a teacher's professional responsibilities. The Georgia Association of Educators was one of the advisory groups for the new standards which will go into effect in July of next year. Educators who violate ethics code rules face a range of penalties, including having their licenses revoked.